Custom Digital Music Essay

In the past, people used to define character traits by the use of art and expressions. Presently, with the change of technology, people are identifying other people’s characteristics with what they are uploading in the digital world. According to the article "Digital Music: You Are What You Listen To" by Lane Jennings, it explains how people are being identified and defined by the music they upload to their computers to share with others (Jennings, 2005). Due to the new technology, the digital world, where people are shifting from the traditional methods of reading books to the new methods of sharing music in the network systems, is changing. In this case, people use these to judge others and at the same time expect others to judge them. Therefore, this paper responses to ideas in the article "Digital Music: You Are What You Listen To" by Lane Jennings.

The first idea in the article is that people have strong feelings with the music they listen. In the article, Jennings is stating that people have extremely strong feelings with music nowadays and that they respond strongly when their MP3 player is lost or stolen (Jennings, 2005). According to different scholars, people are emotionally attached to the music they listen. Therefore, when their playlist is lost, they are likely to become violated. In this case, Jennings tries to show people that digital music is one way of defining people's character and behavior. On the other hand, the author states that these attachments are formed from the music as a result of emotions portrayed by the tunes and the words. Therefore, people are defined with the music they are listening to in accordance to the tunes and the words of the music.

I agree with Jennings' point of view that people often become susceptible to the music they listen. Additionally, it is easy to describe a person from the type of music they are listening to. For instance, people who use cannabis sativa (bhang) often listen to reggae music. On the other hand, those people who are romantic often listen to rhythm and blues. However, I do not entirely agree with this statement by Jennings because there are people who often listen to reggae music and do not use drugs. This means that it is not necessary to describe people with the music they are listening to. It should be noted that people who listen to a certain music genre have certain similar character traits. Therefore, Jennings is still right that music defines a person.

Ostracism is another idea that Jennings is creating in the article. In this case, Jennings states that people are trying to change their music playlists in the schools and work places for purposes of appearing cooler to the other people (Jennings, 2005). This shows that people in work places and schools are afraid of how people will view them if they are listening to certain genre of music.. In this case, Jennings was trying to show their readers that music can develop a lack of self-confidence and it can become extremely dangerous for a person. Therefore, people should be careful with what they decide to do.

To prove this, the article has a research that was done on thirteen people. The people were given certain music to select from and write a playlist they felt they like. According to the research, people selected music based on the tastes of other people what they would find acceptable instead of choosing what these people themselves found acceptable. In this case, Jennings was trying to show that people concentrate too much on what other people are thinking of them instead of thinking about them (Jennings, 2005). For this reason, Jennings asks people to be aware of these because it can ruin a person’s happiness.

To a certain extend, I agree with Jennings regarding ostracism. This is because many people are self-conscious about what others often think of them. According to studies done by researchers, many people, especially teenage girls, often try to amuse other people with what they are listening and what they are doing. In this case, they will tend to play certain music in their playlists for people to like them irrespective of whether they like the music or not. On the other hand, not all people are self-conscious of what other think of them. These people often take things easily and they do not mind the genre of music they are listening to despite of what people are thinking of them.

Jennings shows the readers that people often tend to lie in relation to the music they are listening to. This is because people often create a playlist for people to show not to listen to it. In this case, they do not portray their true feelings or character trait through music. Jennings provides the results of the research of the thirteen people who were used as samples in the experiment (Jennings, 2005). These people did not select the music they were feeling was right for them. The most surprising is that the research was made anonymous, however these people chose music for other people and not satisfying their own musical tastes..

Due to certain experiences in my life, I think Jennings says the truth about people and music. In school, students often try to become more popular. In this case, they try to choose the music genre they think people enjoy listening to. Additionally, I agree with Jennings that people at the work place try to create a playlist that impresses other people. My mum is currently asking me about the best new music to use in her playlist for purposes of impressing people at the office and appearing as a cool mother. This means that Jennings is extremely right with the ideas in the article.

Conclusion

In the past, it was extremely easy to define a person character with the books and stories he or she read. Currently, technology is changing the world leading to the changes of people's lifestyle. According to the article "Digital Music: You Are What You Listen T"’ by Lane Jennings, people can easily be defined by the playlists they upload to their computers. This means that people can be defined by the music they listen to. On the other hand, it is not easy to do this because people are currently lying about the music they like in order to amuse other people. For this reason, Jennings is urging people to be aware of ostracism.